Breschel sprints to win in Killarney

Matti Breschel won Thursday’s second stage of the Tour of Ireland cycle race after 166km from Clonakilty into Killarney.

The Danish rider from the powerful CSC team easily out sprinted the rest of a 45 rider-strong lead group on the streets of the Kerry town to score his second season win.

Sergey Lagutin (Navigators) attacked the main bunch on the day’s final climb, Moll’s Gap, to open up a 45-second gap going over the summit. Irish national team rider Paul Griffin, a Kerryman, also attacked near the top of the climb, but couldn’t bridge across to Lagutin and was sucked back in by the CSC-controlled bunch.

His team mate Brian Kenneally then shot out of the bunch on the descent, flying past the tired Lagutin, but with the strong headwind and the well-organised CSC team still driving hard at the front, none of the solo escapees could stay clear and the stage was set up for a bunch sprint in Killarney.

In the final kilometre the hard-working CSC riders delivered their favoured sprinter Breschel to the front and the Dane surged clear to finish off the job with aplomb.

Overnight leader Stijn Vandenbergh (Unibet.com) finished comfortably in the main bunch to retain his yellow jersey, but CSC’s Marcus Lyungqvist, third after yesterday’s stage in Cork, won two intermediate sprints today to chip six seconds off the Belgian’s lead.

Lyungqvist now trails Vandenbergh by 21 seconds, with T-Mobile’s Aaron Olson a further second back in third place.

The five-day race continues Friday with a 194km stage from Tralee to Ennis. With just one category three climb, the stage won’t be difficult enough to shake the field, and Vandenberg’s rivals will be looking to Saturday's hilly stage through Galway and Mayo to try and unseat the Belgian.